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Rumor: Xbox Has Allegedly Canceled Its E3 Appearance Due To A Marketing Budget Cut

Eddie-Griffin

Eddie-Griffin

Banned
https://exputer.com/news/xbox-has-cancelled-its-e3-appearance/
Story Highlights
  • Xbox will not attend E3 this year.
  • Microsoft, Sony, and others will not be in attendance.
  • It is the first in-person E3 event since 2019.
  • According to an insider, the reason for Microsoft‘s absence from E3 is a result of a cut from Xbox’s marketing budget.
When it was announced that E3 would return in person this year, some questioned the future of what was once gaming’s most popular industry event.

E3 was once the event everyone in gaming would wait for all year. It is the event where studios would show off their newest projects. It was an event where people from the industry would get to network.

The importance of E3 has dwindled in previous years, being supplemented by Geoff Keighley’s summer game fest, as well as other events such as The Game Awards and publishers’ own individual events.

E3 has not been held in person since 2019. Its 2020 show was canceled due to the pandemic, and the 2021 and 2022 shows were virtual events. Ever since competing gaming events have only grown more popular, and E3’s importance has only shrunk.

It was rumored that multiple major publishers would not attend E3 this summer. Xbox, Sony, and Nintendo will be absent this year.

According to industry insider Idle Sloth, the reason for Microsoft’s absence from E3 is a result of a cut from Xbox’s marketing budget.

Microsoft has sought to cut costs in the company, laying off 11,000+ people in the last few weeks. These cuts have hit many Xbox studios hard, with 343 Industries laying off nearly a hundred employees and other studios canceling games as a result.

With the big 3 game publishers out, E3 could be barren. Ubisoft will likely be the headliner of this year’s E3 event. Some major publishers, like EA, have their own summer event, while others will likely have their showcases during the Summer Games Fest.

VGC games Andy Robinson suggests that it would not be a good look for Microsoft to attend this event in the wake of mass layoffs that have significantly affected its gaming division. However, Microsoft could have a presence in LA somehow, where E3 takes place.

Microsoft has its own summer showcase planned. Reportedly, Nintendo is a no-show because the company does not feel they have a strong enough lineup to justify a presence at E3.
Click to expand...


Also reported by Aroged
https://www.aroged.com/2023/02/03/r...due-to-lack-of-money-for-marketing-from-xbox/
Earlier this week, IGN reported that all 3 gaming giants could skip E3 this year. We are talking about Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo, which, allegedly, will not be present at the event this year. It is assumed that Microsoft will hold the show during the period when game journalists and gamers will “pull in” at E3, that is, a few days before the show itself.
Renowned gaming journalist and editor of the VGC portal Andy Robinson, answering questions on social networks why the giants Nintendo and Microsoft will not participate in E3, said the following: “One of these companies does not have games, and the other does not have a marketing budget (but it can still show something, just without stands).

The company without games is assumed to be Nintendo, which has no major releases for the second half of 2023, while the company without marketing funds is Microsoft, which will just run a show and not spend money on booths at E3.
Click to expand...

This has been making the rounds, between a lot of spending but a lack of big plays in 2022, heavy discounting over the holidays, and recent internal restructuring at Xbox and some studios, this rumor isn't wild and unreasonable.

However, it's because of those very same negatives that Microsoft would want to put as much focus on what their about to bring out to retain and gain the attention of potential new Xbox users.

It could be Nadella has felt he has gotten burned allowing too much spending, but at the same time with so much in the pipeline I don't see that he or Phil would discuss a cut marketing budget. But it's also possible that new limits have been put in place.

Until we get confirmation or a credible leak, take with grain of salt.
 
S

SHA

Member
With social media lazy asses needs to do some extra clicks to find what they're looking for, why e3? especially when abandoning worked for Sony? , why the double standards. I don't see any real benefits.
 
feynoob

feynoob

Banned
HeisenbergFX4 said:
Have said it before but E3 would cost Xbox around 30 million while Ybarra was still there and they can do their own show much much cheaper
Click to expand...
That is the cost of several gamepass games. I can see why it makes no sense for them to waste that much money on big events like E3.
Financially it makes no sense when there is live mode like twitch and youtube live.
 
reinking

reinking

Gold Member
spot me no money GIF by Transparent Feed
 
T

Three

Member
I was always under the impression that this was why Sony left E3 and didn't do PS Experience anymore aswell. Kind of sucks but when you can just do video announcements, release game demos and shadowdrops digitally, add to that Covid happening too, spending big for extravagant stages and E3 showcases made less and less sense financially. Will definitely miss it though.
 
01011001

01011001

Banned
videogames in general would be better off cutting marketing budgets by at least 90%
some of the most successful games out there currently had either a very small marketing budget or no marketing at all. and wasting money that could go directly into the development of the game is just sad.

in fact, I bet some games would have been far better off with less marketing and a smaller and to-the-point marketing campaign a few weeks ahead of launch.
like all those preview gameplays, trailers, presentations etc. for Deathloop... did that help the game? I feel like it actively hurt the game... people were annoyed every time it showed up again.
that game needed something similar to Hi-Fi Rush, a small presentation by the lead director explaining the game and its mechanics, and then launch it soon after... maybe not shadow drop it, that's very risky, but make a similar presentation and then 1 or 2 months later launcht the game... start taking preorders the day of the presentation etc.

or what about Forspoken? you can't tell me never releasing all those cringe ass trailers and doing that wannabe hip twitter campaign actually helped the game.
 
ChorizoPicozo

ChorizoPicozo

Member
01011001 said:
videogames in general would be better off cutting marketing budgets by at least 90%
some of the most successful games out there currently had either a very small marketing budget or no marketing at all. and wasting money that could go directly into the development of the game is just sad.

in fact, I bet some games would have been far better off with less marketing and a smaller and to-the-point marketing campaign a few weeks ahead of launch.
like all those preview gameplays, trailers, presentations etc. for Deathloop... did that help the game? I feel like it actively hurt the game... people were annoyed every time it showed up again.
that game needed something similar to Hi-Fi Rush, a small presentation by the lead director explaining the game and its mechanics, and then launch it soon after... maybe not shadow drop it, that's very risky, but make a similar presentation and then 1 or 2 months later launcht the game... start taking preorders the day of the presentation etc.

or what about Forspoken? you can't tell me never releasing all those cringe ass trailers and doing that wannabe hip twitter campaign actually helped the game.
Click to expand...
if they cut the marketing for those specific games they will sell less.
 
01011001

01011001

Banned
ChorizoPicozo said:
if they cut the marketing for those specific games they will sell less.
Click to expand...

depends on the game.
Deathloop? no way... I would bet it would have sold more with an approach similar to Hi-Fi Rush. that game needed a nice and short and easy to understand walkthrough by a developer and a release shortly after.
 
Last edited:
poppabk

poppabk

Cheeks Spread for Digital Only Future
Lasha said:
Why is Sony also not presenting? Weird that its reasons are omitted from the article.
Click to expand...
Well the source never actually named the companies. Maybe it is Sony that has no games or had a marketing budget cut.
 
ChorizoPicozo

ChorizoPicozo

Member
01011001 said:
depends on the game.
Deathloop? no way... I would bet it would have sold more with an approach similar to Hi-Fi Rush. that game needed a nice and short and easy to understand walktrhough by a developer and a release shortly after.
Click to expand...

of course.

the correct marketing is the key factor.

Big Games need Big Marketing.
 
T

Three

Member
01011001 said:
videogames in general would be better off cutting marketing budgets by at least 90%
some of the most successful games out there currently had either a very small marketing budget or no marketing at all. and wasting money that could go directly into the development of the game is just sad.

in fact, I bet some games would have been far better off with less marketing and a smaller and to-the-point marketing campaign a few weeks ahead of launch.
like all those preview gameplays, trailers, presentations etc. for Deathloop... did that help the game? I feel like it actively hurt the game... people were annoyed every time it showed up again.
that game needed something similar to Hi-Fi Rush, a small presentation by the lead director explaining the game and its mechanics, and then launch it soon after... maybe not shadow drop it, that's very risky, but make a similar presentation and then 1 or 2 months later launcht the game... start taking preorders the day of the presentation etc.

or what about Forspoken? you can't tell me never releasing all those cringe ass trailers and doing that wannabe hip twitter campaign actually helped the game.
Click to expand...
Marketing 100% helps. Deathloop probably annoyed you with it's marketing but it kept it in peoples minds and built exposure for a product. I'm sure deathloop would have come and gone without much fanfare without the coverage and exposure even though it's decent. Shadowdrops are nice if you don't need to sell a product. Nobody is going to see a trailer and say "I'm buying that for $70 tomorrow!" for a game out of nowhere that they know very little about. They don't work when you're trying to convince someone to spend money, they work with "oh I'll check that out tonight, could be cool".
 
RickMasters

RickMasters

Member
I could have sworn I read somewhere that MS, sony and nintendo was skipping e3 in favour of their own live streams. seems to be the way forward nowdays.... nintendo direct-style
 
01011001

01011001

Banned
ChorizoPicozo said:
of course.

the correct marketing is the key factor.

Big Games need Big Marketing.
Click to expand...

do they? how was the marketing for Fallout 4? they showed it at E3 and the same year launched it without much buildup, and it sold well... 12 million copies on launch "well"
it was announced on June 3rd, shown on June 14th and released on November 10th with a relatively small PR campaign.

and I feel like especially established IPs often have a blown out budget that's simply unnecessary.
 
James Sawyer Ford

James Sawyer Ford

Member
These games market themselves now.

Sad to see it, but the big events are a thing of the past.

No more E3 Christmas in June extravaganzas where we get amazing announcements.

Now we just get a small trickle closer to release.
 
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